


not all heroes are

by sayachaan



Category: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: Backstory, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-06
Updated: 2020-03-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:28:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23032483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sayachaan/pseuds/sayachaan
Summary: many people think that magical girls are heroes. mami tomoe and homura akemi aren't.
Relationships: Akemi Homura/Kaname Madoka
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16





	not all heroes are

Many would consider magical girls, those destined to do battle with witches, heroes, but Mami Tomoe was not one.

Yes, she saved people every day, but how did she get there? Purely chance.

Sixth-grade Mami loved to dance. Any type of it- acrobatics, freestyle, tap, but her favorite type of dance was ballet. She dreamed of being a world-famous dancer one day.

But her dream was cut short one evening on the Mitakihara highway, when a drunk driver (it was five p.m., why was he even this drunk this early) slammed head-on into the Tomoe family’s car. It was a blur - flashing lights, a hard slamming feeling, and suddenly Mami felt herself being crushed under the same seat she was sitting on just a few seconds before. She couldn’t feel her legs, and a trickle of hot liquid dripped down her face. Whether it was blood or tears, she didn’t know.

Mami looked up at the window, which was open- it must’ve shattered upon the impact- and reached out a hand, trying to scrabble towards the light shining through it.

Only to be met with a cold, unblinking stare.

_“Tomoe Mami,”_ the thing said, _“if you wish it, I can save you.”_

Mami gasped. That breath of air sent a stabbing pain through one of her lungs, but she didn’t think she cared. Living was living, after all, and- 

“I- I,” she breathed out, “Please…”

_“All you have to do is say it,”_ the thing said. _“Make a wish with me, and become a magical girl!”_

_‘Magical girls? Like in those animes I used to watch as a little girl? They’re… real?’_ Mami thought.

But she wasn’t going to back down from this chance. She inhaled again, blinking through the stabbing pains in her chest. “I-I… I wish…” She coughed. “I wish for a second chance at life… t-to be connected to the world once more-!”

The last thing she felt before she fell unconscious were two twin swords entering her chest and yanking at what felt like the very core of her being.

Mami’s parents were pronounced dead upon arrival to the hospital. Every now and then, the magical girl felt a twinge of regret that she couldn’t save them, but that didn’t matter.

What mattered now was that Mami herself was still alive and still breathing. Even if she was bound to a destiny of battle, she was _here-_ and she was never going to make anyone feel the same grief that she felt. 

So she threw herself into the world of battle headfirst.

\---

Many would consider magical girls, those destined to do battle with witches, heroes, but Homura Akemi was not one. 

Yes, she may be a magical girl, but how did she get there? Her own selfish desire. Her wish to bring Madoka Kaname back, again, again, and again, just trying to spare her friend from the horrible destiny that awaited her.

Homura just wanted to save one person. And to do that, she knew that she’d have to hurt others.

That was why Mami Tomoe made her so angry. For the fourth timeline in a row, Madoka Kaname had wandered into a witch’s labyrinth, and for the fourth time in a row, Mami had been the one to save her.

And Homura just knew that for the fourth timeline in a row, Madoka Kaname was going to make a wish, and she was powerless to stop it.

Even though she pumped that stupid alien ferret full of holes every time she saw him, he always came back, and Madoka’s destiny always repeated. And it was all because she wanted to save Madoka.

That’s why Mami Tomoe saving said Madoka made her so, so _angry._

And it also hurt her beyond belief.

Homura just wanted to call out to Madoka- _“Hey!”_ she would say, _“Don’t listen to Mami- listen to me! I’m the one who has been rewinding time over and over, just to make sure you won’t die- she’s just going to use you! She’s just selfish!”_

But the thing was, Homura Akemi knew that she was the truly selfish one here. She only wanted to save Madoka- but for what? Who’s telling that Madoka would even want to be her friend, after all Homura had done to spare her?

No. Homura didn’t know how to feel here. She really, truly didn’t.

And she had said it over and over to Madoka, in timeline after timeline- _“I just want to save you!”_

But that was her want. Her own, stupid, selfish, want- her want for Madoka Kaname’s salvation, even if it meant sacrificing her best friends for it.

But they didn’t matter. The one who wished for others to listen, the one who wished to heal, and especially the one who wished to live- they all stood in her way. Some way or another they’d sway Madoka, and she wouldn’t be able to prevent it. 

The shield on her arm clicked, and she emptied a whole chamber of bullets into the witch.

After all, there was still some way to prevent Kaname Madoka from making her wish, wasn’t there?

**Author's Note:**

> this was a story i wrote for my english class assignment, 'write about the past of an unlikely hero, and then about someone deeply harmed by that hero'. logically the thing to do was to write a madoka magica fanfiction.  
> i wanted to do my own take on mami's backstory, so i did that, and then i noticed a bunch of parallels between her and homu homu, so that was a fun time.  
> ...yeah.  
> i got an a on that assignment. i think my teacher liked it.


End file.
